


the boys of summer

by theheartsclub



Category: IT (2017)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, High School, M/M, Road Trips, Slow Burn, Summer, all on the great open road, soft boys are soft and fall in love, theres lots of summer fun and warm weather meets warm hearts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2019-04-25 07:58:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14374380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theheartsclub/pseuds/theheartsclub
Summary: It's the summer of 1993, otherwise known as the summer that Richie and Eddie attempt to tackle the all-American road trip all on their own.





	1. call it fate

**Author's Note:**

> thank u endlessly to mikhayla (@lovesickbill on twitter) for giving me this prompt!

Richie Tozier had been dreaming of the day that he would receive his driving license just about since the moment he took his first steps. That small taste of freedom was all he needed to know that he was born to wander. It was only natural that the day that thin plastic card was handed to him was what Richie declared one of the most monumental days of his life. Finally, after years of riding his bike everywhere or waiting for his mother to occasionally give in to giving him a ride, he was free to go wherever he pleased. He felt the overwhelming urge to do something with it as soon as he could.

Staying within what could feel like the suffocating confines of Derry, Maine was almost painful for him at times. Constantly, he found himself itching to get out. It wasn’t all bad, of course. He had his friends to keep him grounded, at least to the best of their ability. And those friends, the seven misfits that made up the infamous ‘Losers’ Club’, were Richie’s driving force. It wasn’t like he told them as often as he should, or much at all for that matter, but he loved those dumb kids more than he’d ever loved anything in his entire seventeen years on this planet that always felt too god damn small for him.

It wasn’t like Richie meant to shelter his adoration from them, he just had a bit of trouble in that department. They all knew it by this point, that communicating his feelings wasn’t exactly his forte, and he wasn’t the best at receiving them either. This was exactly why Beverly Marsh made it a point to tell Richie she loves him every time she sees him, or why Bill Denbrough would dedicate hours to sitting with him just waiting for some sort of sign of a feeling to come pouring out as it always eventually did. They were good to him. He didn’t deserve them. People like Richie didn’t just get people like them in their lives, that wasn’t how it was supposed to work. He was fucked up, but incidentally they were too. Sometimes things just worked out that way.

If there was one person Richie truly didn’t deserve, it was Eddie Kaspbrak. Eddie was Richie’s favorite person in the world. He can’t recall ever admitting to this in complete seriousness more than a couple times in the entirety of their friendship, but everyone knew it anyway. Mike Hanlon liked to tease him about it sometimes, the way that Richie just lit up when Eddie walked in the room, or how he had a tendency to resemble a lost puppy on the rare occasion that Eddie was the only one missing from their group. It was all masked in layers of jokes and teasing, just like everything else Richie felt, but there was a love that he had for Eddie that had always been different from the other Losers. It had always been there too, from the day that Bill intertwined their lives in the second grade.

School had been cancelled that day due to a snowstorm, which meant Richie would join Bill in building snow forts in his front yard for the greater majority of the day. They’d done this a handful of times before, it being only the two of them each time. Richie liked it that way. He liked having Bill all to himself. He was quite comfortable with their partnership in this activity, so it wasn’t a surprise when he didn’t take kindly to finding another boy their age already there when he arrived. After throwing a snowball at his head and asking where he was hiding the rest of his height, Richie decided that he was still unsure about how keen he was on sharing, but at this point it was Eddie that he wanted to keep all to himself. After that day Eddie was therefore known as the cutest boy he’s ever encountered, which he proudly declared to Stanley Uris during recess the next day. Stan promptly responded that Bill was probably cuter before returning to the log cabin he was constructing out of sticks. The same one Richie accidentally knocked over ten minutes later when he saw Eddie come outside. In his defense, it was an obstacle between him and his newest infatuation. Stan didn’t even bother getting angry, just sighed and began rebuilding. Even that early on, it was obvious to anyone who observed that Richie had something for Eddie that you didn’t see with everyone. Even from the ripe age of eight years old, Richie Tozier was falling in love. Even if he didn’t quite realize it yet.

**_____________________________**

Summer was Richie’s favorite time of the year for obvious reasons. School was over, the weather was beautiful (under Maine’s standards), and he got to hang out with his friends just about every day. There were times where not all of them could make it, which was understandable. Bill’s family went on vacation for a portion of the break every year, Ben would occasionally go away for a day or so, and Eddie’s mother still had a decent amount of control over how he lived his day to day life. Even so, there always seemed to be someone for him to spend his days with. It was a feeling of warmth and freedom that he didn’t get all of the time, and he savored for as long as he could. Although as the conclusion of the school year quickly approached, it soon became apparent that this year would not follow the routine of all the rest.

It was in the garage attached to the Tozier residence where Richie came up with what he thought to be one of his most brilliant ideas yet. Eddie had come by after school to help attempt to revive the jalopy that Richie claimed as his pride and joy, and he was honestly looking forward to the challenge. He was even the one that offered to do it when he first saw the car, no invitation or persuasion was necessary. To put it in the plainest of terms, the 1982 Riviera Convertible was a piece of shit. A pretty piece of shit (Richie wouldn’t let them forget it), but a piece of shit at that.

But it was a challenge, and Eddie loved having something to work on. Cars were his favorite too. Richie wasn’t exactly the handiest person out there, it was probably in your best interest not to trust him with any tools more powerful than a screwdriver, but conveniently enough he sure as hell loved watching Eddie work on things like this. Especially his precious new car, which he wouldn’t have been able to afford if he hadn’t spent all school year working in the comic book store in the middle of town. Eddie was bent over under the hood of the car shifting around the pile of bits and pieces inside, while Richie stood leaning back against the wall with a cigarette in hand, just trying to take in as much of the view as he could without it making him a total creep. Eddie would probably call him that anyway if he ever noticed. Luckily, he never seemed to.

“Oh my god!” Richie exclaims, in exactly the way you probably never should when in close confines with a person bent under a low raised hood of a car.

“Jesus, fuck, Rich.” Eddie’s tone is irritated as he rubs the back of his head, where he just smacked into the hard metal above him when the exclamation made him jump nearly out of his skin. “I don’t see you bleeding, there doesn’t seem to be any intruder or large animal. I’m at loss for a reason as to why you would need to outburst at such an extreme level.”

“You’ll eat your damn words when you hear the stroke of genius I just had,” Richie replies with a grin, pushing himself from the wall so the space between him and Eddie decreases more than what is probably necessary. “I’m about to blow your mind, Eds. Are you ready?”

Eddie sets down the wrench he had in hand, leaning back a bit once he realizes how close Richie had gotten to him. He avoids Richie’s direct gaze for a moment to recover himself. “Ready for you to move on with your stroke so I can finish fixing _your_ car before I’m thirty.

Richie imitates a drum roll against the side of the car, his grin only growing. “Now presenting,” he starts. He’s attempting an impression of some sort of announcer, but it really just sounds like Richie if puberty hit him a little harder. “The greatest idea ever heard in the history of all of mankind! The great! The amazing! The spectacular! Losers’ Club road trip!”

“Oh, not in that fuckin’ thing,” Eddie scoffs, but he has to admit that it isn’t the worst idea Richie’s ever come up with. There’s been lots of those. “There isn’t enough room for seven of us in there, Richie. Besides, I’m pretty sure if you tried to fit more than three the whole thing would fall to pieces in the middle of the road. I can fix things, I never claimed to be a magician.”

“But you would look cute in a top hat and a cape.”

Eddie rolls his eyes, avoiding Richie’s direct line of vision once again for just a moment. He was afraid if he looked him in the eye he might crack a smile, and who knows where Richie could go running with that. “Shut up.”

Luckily, Richie moves on. “Bill’s got his car now. We can split up.”

A fair point. Bill’s car should fit four, and Richie’s three. It could work. “Where would we go?” Eddie asks after a moment of thought.

“Anywhere. Everywhere,” Richie answers as if it were written directly in the air surrounding them.

“This car isn’t gonna get you everywhere, I’ll tell you that right now,” Eddie states, but it’s clear that he’s beginning to like the sound of this idea. He never goes away in the summer. None of them really do, except for the occasional week here and there where one went to a beach or maybe a grandparents’ house, but they were always back soon enough. Some time away from his mother sounded nice. Really nice. Even if it was just a few days, it would be blissful. Suddenly, Richie’s idea was starting to sound like at least one of the greatest of all time.

Richie is quick to answer, like the words were already in his mouth. “It’s gonna get us somewhere.”

He doesn’t need to say anything else. Eddie knows exactly what he’s talking about. They could all use somewhere, wherever that was.

**______________________________**

“Alright, Rich. Spit it out,” Beverly says about halfway through the lunch period, setting down her sandwich. “You look like the cat who got the cream. What have you done?”

Richie gasps, pressing a hand to his chest to mock injury. “I haven’t _done_ anything at all. How dare you accuse me of such?”

“She’s right,” Mike joins in, leaning past Bill to get a better view of where Richie is sat at the end of the table. “You’re smug, and especially after that remark, that means there’s something you aren’t telling us.”

This only encourages Richie’s attempted look of mystique. “You, my dear friends, my esteemed colleagues, are about to hear the best news of your lives.”

“You’re moving?” Stan blurts, but there’s a hint of a smile in his eye. “No, no, wait. Let me guess. Boarding school? Government experimentation? _Military school_?”

Richie shakes his head low, but it doesn’t stay down long. “My apologies, my dear Stanny Boy, but none of those are the case. You are stuck with me for a long, long time. Especially considering my big surprise is, get ready for it, a Losers’ Club road trip!”

A certain silence fell over the group, one that felt stiff. Everyone was waiting for someone to speak, but no one wanted to do it themselves. Bill was the one to break it.

“Th-this summer?” he asks, almost hopeful that Richie will answer that there is some break between now and the remaining few weeks of the school year that he didn’t know about. He doesn’t.

“Obviously! Unless you wanted to go right now, to which I would not oppose, but I believe that certain present company would.” Richie’s smile grows to a grin, and Bill’s heart sinks to his stomach. It’s Ben who breaks the news first.

“I’m leaving for my Grandmother’s in Vermont a few days after school gets out,” he says quietly.

Beverly’s next. “My aunt wants us to go to her beach house in New Hampshire. It sounds like we’re gonna be gone for a while.”

Then Mike. “My parents have these friends up in Eagle Lake. We’re gonna be there for a few weeks.”

“Camp,” Stan says, his voice laced with disappointment as he looks to Bill, who had his heart set on them going away together with his family before he found out Stan would be gone. “Stupid scout shit, you know how it is.”

Bill speaks last, but only because they all knew what he was going to say. “Acadia. F-for a f-few weeks. Maybe a m-month.”

Richie doesn’t want to make this a big deal, but the way his heart shattered more with each response was visible from the outside. They all knew why this meant so much to him, it wasn’t difficult to guess. It was the summer before their senior year. The summer before everything started to change. Richie wasn’t good with change. He wanted something memorable, and each rejection was just another hit.

“I’m really sorry, Richie,” Bev says, placing her hand over his. He lets it rest there for a moment before standing, slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

“I just remembered that I’ve got a thing I have to be at,” Richie mutters. “I’ll catch you guys later.”

Eddie wants to follow as he watches Richie’s figure shrink in the distance. He’s walking in the opposite direction of the school, probably to smoke. Definitely to smoke. Which makes it odd that Bev doesn’t follow, but there seems to be some sort of silent, unanimous agreement that Richie is better left alone at the moment.

**_____________________________**

It’s out of pure luck that Eddie is able to find Richie once the school day is over. Anyone who knew him would’ve expected him to leave the moment something went wrong. It wasn’t as though something truly terrible happened, but everyone understood why Richie was so let down.

“Richie,” Eddie says as he approaches his locker. His tone is gentle, expecting that Richie might still be in an off mood.

Surprisingly, Richie beams. “Eddie Spaghetti! Just the man I wanted to see.” He switches to his best Southern accent, but even at his best it really wasn’t all that good. “And what do I owe the pleasure of your company on this fine evening?”

Eddie sighs, but he has to admit he’s fighting back a bit of a smile. It would be a relief to see Richie acting this way, but he knows better. Richie really lays it on thick when he’s upset. “I know you’re sad about the road trip.”

“And what makes you think that, my good sir?” He continues with the accent, but his voice waivers.

“Look, I know you were looking forward to it and you kind of got fucked over. It’s not anyone’s fault, but it’s not fun to be let down over something you were excited about.”

Richie only shrugs, but he’s turned back to face his locker again. “I’m just peachy, Eds. You shouldn’t worry yourself any more than you already do.”

“I just thought I’d let you know that I’m not gonna be going anywhere. This summer, I mean,” he adds.

Richie turns to face Eddie again, his expression a bit lighter. “You’re saying?”

“I’m saying that if you wanted, I could go with you.”

Richie doesn’t show any sudden emotion just yet, but Eddie can tell he’s on the way there. “Just the two of us?”

“Just the two of us.”

Now Richie’s face lights up once again. “Are you serious?”

Eddie thinks of his mother. He thinks of having to convince her. Having to lie to her. His chest begins to get that familiar tightness, but he’s able to push it away this time. “I’m serious. We can go anywhere you want. Except for like, the city morgue, or a hospital of any kind. Besides that, anywhere you want.”

“City morgue? Now that you mention it, that sounds like the perfect summer sightseeing spot,” Richie says. He’s grinning now.

“You’re pushing it.”

“Okay, okay,” he laughs. Eddie’s relieved to see the crinkles by his eyes again. “No city morgue. No hospitals. Got it.”

Eddie smiles. Richie’s heart feels lighter.

**____________________________**

Richie can’t seem to bring himself to be upset about the rest of the Losers’ going away anymore. At first, he can’t quite figure out why, but its while he’s driving Eddie home from school that he realizes. A whole road trip with Eddie. Alone. It’s then that he has a hard time watching Eddie leave. Now that this is in the foreseeable future, he wants it right now.

Still, Richie bids Eddie goodbye. “Not even a kiss goodbye, my love? Well, at least I’ve got the best view in town from here. I’ll cherish it forever,” he shouts. Eddie flips him off over his shoulder.

Richie spends the rest of his night thinking only about their new plans for this summer, and he doesn’t know how he’ll make it through the remaining weeks of school. Not that he would ever openly express his true excitement. Any conversation pertaining to the event will be handled casually. Except that didn’t mean Richie wouldn’t fall asleep that night thinking of The Summer of Richie and Eddie. His dreams were painted with cotton candy sunsets, sun kissed freckles, and the open road.


	2. of all the gin joints

“Come on, turn that shit down. You’re gonna blow my fucking speakers, Tozier!” Bill shouts over the music blasting from his car.

Richie does no such thing. Just sticks his middle finger out of the car window, turning up the volume just a little bit higher.

“You’re gonna make me go deaf,” Eddie groans from the passenger seat, covering his ears as he looks over. Richie finds that adorable, so he adjusts the volume just a little lower. Not enough to look like he’s giving in to Bill’s requests, but enough to make sure Eddie was more comfortable.

They had all driven down to the quarry for one more night before they all slowly began to head off on their own ways. Bev was leaving in the morning, and Stan the afternoon. Which would explain why he was currently draped over Bill’s lap, his fingers softly running through Stan’s short curls as they somehow managed a hushed conversation over the blaring music. No one was really surprised. Even in the most chaotic of moments, the two seemingly always found their own small pocket of peace.

Despite their parting nearing closer with every second, the mood was anything but somber. Stan and Bill had been in their own little world for close to ten minutes now, which meant it’s been around seven of them that Bev has been carefully placing blades of grass in Stan’s hair, waiting for him to notice. He hasn’t yet.

Mike had somehow convinced Ben to join him in dancing outside of Bill’s car, where Eddie and Richie were currently sat in the front of, maintaining some argument that no one else quite had the energy to pay attention to.

“You’re kidding me,” Richie groans, pulling the lever to drop the front seat back all the way. Somehow, Bill immediately notices, shouting once again for Richie to be careful with the car or he’s losing his front seat privileges. Richie ignores him.

“No, I am not,” Eddie responds with confidence. “Pie is better. That’s just the facts. It’s versatile. You don’t just have to have pie for dessert, it could be any meal. There’s breakfast pies, lunch pies, dinner pies, dessert pies. Ever heard of chicken pot pie? Yeah, I thought so. I rest my case.”

Richie pretends as though he’s attempting to pull his hair out. “Versatility? We’re working with enjoyableness, not versatility. You can have lots of stuff for every meal, doesn’t make it good. There’s a bunch of cereals, doesn’t make it better than cake. I could have cake for every meal if I wanted to.”

“You would  _ die!”  _ Eddie shouts with great exasperation.

That catches Stan’s attention. “Promise?” he calls back. Richie sticks his middle finger out through the open car door.

“If that’ll kill me, it’s how I want to go,” Richie says, abandoning the conversation to turn up the music and leap from the car to join Ben and Mike in dancing. Eddie trades the car for joining Bev in the grass, gently weaving buttercups into her hair as she still works on Stan’s. He remains unbothered.

**_____________________________**

It’s three days before they planned on leaving, and Eddie still hasn’t told his mother. It’s not that he’s afraid. He’s not. Really, he isn’t. Okay, maybe just a little bit, but not nearly as much as he used to be.

He would tell her that him and Richie are taking his old beat up car to drive wherever they please, but he really didn’t feel up to watching his mother drop dead at the moment. That meant coming up with a sufficient lie. 

Eddie wasn’t the best liar, but with years of practice, he had gotten pretty good with his mother. He no longer shrunk under her glares, or tripped over his words when she pressed for more information. That didn’t mean that she didn’t still scare the living daylights out of him at times, but he was better at controlling his fear. Sonia Kaspbrak was a terrifying woman, but a rather gullible one as well. If it were up to her, Eddie would never leave the house. That was never really an option.

It was that night at dinner that Eddie broke the news. He announced that he had been invited to join the Denbroughs on their yearly trip to Acadia. This of course, was responded to with countless oppositions. Each Eddie was prepared for. He assured his mother that he would be well looked after, that he was old enough now that he could handle himself away from home for a bit, and this meant she didn’t have to look out for him for a while. He strayed from any reason that included any form of personal growth or independence, because that would be shut down immediately.

Luckily, he somehow slipped by. It took some convincing, and then a lot more convincing, but his mother trusted the Denbroughs more than any of Eddie’s other friends, so it ultimately went by as smoothly as it could. With promises of phone calls and that he would keep up with his medication, of course. In some aspect, Eddie was proud of himself. This was the highest staked lie he’s ever told to her, and he did it without error. He managed to hide his trembling hands beneath the table.

**____________________________**

Much to Eddie’s surprise, they actually leave on time. At promptly three in the afternoon, soon after his mother left to run her Saturday errands, Richie pulls up to the front of the old brick house, music blaring as usual. Eddie doesn’t even need to look outside to know he was there. Guns N’ Roses told him all he needed to know.

“You know if you keep playing that shit so loudly outside of my house my neighbors are gonna complain to my mom, and then your big summer road trip extravaganza will be ruined because I’m gonna be on house arrest until I collect my social security,” Eddie states as they load up the car, watching Richie make a show out of lifting his bag into the trunk.

Richie just laughs. “What’d you end up telling her anyway?” Eddie had called that night to say that he could go, and Richie had just been too excited about the news to bother asking about whatever lie he was able to conjure up.

“Acadia with Bill,” he answers with a shrug. “It’s not foolproof, which makes me nervous. She could always just call and instantly find out that I’m not there. Then I’ll really be in for it.”

Richie stops rearranging the trunk when he senses the anxiety in Eddie’s voice. “Stop,” he says, but his tone is gentle. “You’ve gotta stop worrying about it, Eds. We’re gonna have fun, and she won’t find out. I promise. If anything happens, I’ll take all the blame. I’ll tell the cops I kidnapped you, turn myself in. Tell them you were too cute, I just couldn’t resist!”

Eddie ducks his head, swatting at Richie’s hand that was headed for his cheek. “Beep beep, Richie.”

That earns a smile from Richie. “Try a chill pill. You’ve gotta have one in that little bag of yours.”

“Just get in the car,” Eddie says, but he’s smiling too.

**_______________________________**

The first hour is smooth sailing. Richie lets Eddie pick the music. Well, he didn’t have too much of a choice in the matter. The moment the doors of the car were shut Eddie was messing with the stereo, pulling tapes of his own from his backpack.

He chose Queen, but not admitting that the decision was made based on the knowledge that Richie likes them as well. 

They talk idly about nothing in particular. Eddie brought a book, but seemingly forgot that reading in the car makes him motion sick. So they have to turn down the music and Richie isn’t allowed to talk for the next thirty minutes so Eddie has the opportunity to feel better. Apparently, that’s too difficult of a request, because Richie speaks again at only fifteen.

“Did you know, that in Maine there are-” he starts, but isn’t able to reach the end of his fact.

“Richie, if you can’t control yourself for at least ten more minutes, I swear on my life I will vomit all over your precious car.”

“You know it’s as precious as you as it is to me. You’re the one that helped fix it up,” Richie points out.

“Just- mouth shut.”

“As you wish, my lord,” Richie replies in his best attempt at a British accent, which is admittedly one of his best Voices. Eddie keeps that thought to himself as he shuts his eyes.

Sleep never comes to him because not even ten minutes later the car comes to an immediate halt, Eddie lurching forward in his seat. 

“Richie!” he exclaims. “Are you kidding me?”

Richie raises a hand in defense. “There was a squirrel in the road!”

Eddie can’t even get mad at that. One, because that was a legitimate reason to stop the car. Two, because it was kind of really fucking cute that Richie would stop so immediately for an animal in the road. Except that’s not what he’s meant to be thinking about at the moment. Instead, Eddie just laughs, and Richie joins him. Soon they’re both laughing, and there isn’t quite a reason for them to be, but they don’t really need one.

**______________________________**

“Tell me where we’re going.”

Richie grins. “Nope! It’s a secret.”

Eddie huffs. “You can’t keep our destination a secret from me. That’s like- kidnapping! You’re basically kidnapping me if you don’t tell me where we’re going. I could call the police right now and tell them that you’re holding me hostage right now.”

“You could do that,” Richie says with a shrug of his shoulders. “Except, where’s the fun in that? You’ll never get to find out where we’re going. You’ll be sitting there, all alone now that I’m locked away for life, wondering where the mystical destination I’m taking us to might be. But, unfortunately, you’ll never know. All because you decided to call the cops on me fake kidnapping you.”

“Mystical huh?” Eddie ponders.

“Oh, the most mystical. You wouldn’t even believe.”

“Now you have to tell me,” Eddie insists, and there’s a bit of a whine in his tone that resurfaces Bill’s voice in the back of his head telling him he sounds like Richie. That’s what keeps him from pushing any further.

“Just relax,” Richie says with a small laugh that puts Eddie at ease. “We’ll be there soon. Then you’ll know.”

Eddie does just that, reaching to turn up the volume of the music once again as he settles to watch the trees and cars pass by through the window. 

It’s only minutes later that they stop, which leaves him rather confused. Richie said it wasn’t much longer, but he didn’t think it was going to be this soon.

“This is our destination?” Eddie asks, glancing around the area surrounding them. They’re pulling into the parking lot of a small looking convenience store, nothing much else existing around it. There’s a gas station down the road, a restaurant that looks as though it hasn’t been in service for years, but that’s all.

“Ta-da!” Richie grins, gesturing proudly towards the building. “Here we are! Our grand destination!”

“You’re kidding,” Eddie states, looking around with blatant disgust.

“Of course I am. I’m just stopping for a moment. You don’t even have to come in.”

Eddie opts for staying in the car, doing what he can to avoid the grimy looking store that Richie was entering at the moment. There were probably over a hundred diseases living in there, and he wasn’t about to invite them to use his body as new real estate.

When Richie emerges with a bag and pulls out only a pack of cigarettes, Eddie assumes that’s all that he bought. It isn’t out of the ordinary, that’s what he expected. It’s when he reaches into the bag again that the surprise comes. Richie then pulls out two bottles of soda and what appears to be a baseball cap. 

Eddie audibly sighs when Richie hands it to him, finally making out the writing. Printed across the front of the hat is ‘You were Maine for me’ in the most horrendous font imaginable, a small red lobster with hearts above its head pictured on the side. It was horrible in every way possible. The colors were uncoordinated, the font was gross, and the pun really didn’t even make any sense at all. But for some inconceivable reason, Eddie adored it. He wanted to keep it forever. Of course, he didn’t voice that opinion.

“This is disgusting,” he states, eyes still rather wide as he takes the hat from Richie’s hold.

Richie sounds proud when he says, “Isn’t it?”

“If you like it so much you wear it.”

Richie shakes his head. “No, no. It’s all yours. I bought it special just for you.” He pops the cap off of his bottle of soda, handing one to Eddie. “Here’s lookin’ at you, kid.”

Eddie just shakes his head, a small laugh escaping as he gently knocks his bottle against Richie’s. “You don’t even like that movie, why do you quote it so often?”

Richie shrugs his shoulders. “Seems fitting. I like the quote. You don’t have to like the movie to like a quote.”

Eddie nods. It makes sense, in an odd, Richie sort of way. There probably aren’t many people besides Richie Tozier that would quote a movie they don’t even like. Eddie thinks that’s probably why he’s stuck around all these years. Some things were just so completely and undeniably Richie that you couldn’t resist enjoying them. That might be exactly what was happening with this road trip. Normally, this wasn’t something Eddie would be so open to doing. There were so many hazards out here on the open road that even thinking about it made him dizzy. But Richie had such a deep love for the idea that it made Eddie love it too. That was the exact reason why as they pulled back out onto the road, Eddie fit the hat onto his head, a small smile remaining. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is two days late i KNOW it won't always be like this i promise i love every single one of you that reads this


	3. nothing will harm you

Eddie wasn’t typically this impatient. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Richie, he did (to an extent), but heading towards an undisclosed location brought forth a bit of anxiety. Especially considering it is Richie Tozier that is being referred to. They could be going anywhere. The odds of that place being disease ridden and incredibly unsanitary were ones that Eddie could barely even consider without feeling lightheaded.

“Rich,” Eddie hums, tapping his fingers across the center console.

Richie interrupts him. “I’m not telling you where we’re going.”

“But-”

“Nope, that’s the point of a surprise!” Richie says with a smile in his voice.

“I don’t like surprises,” Eddie grumbles. “You know this.”

“You’ll like this one.” Before Eddie has the chance to get the words out of his mouth, Richie is already speaking again. “It’s not gross, and as far as I know there are no illnesses infecting the area. You’ll be safe. It’s an Eddie approved location. I wouldn’t take you somewhere that you would be unhappy. Don’t you trust me?”

“Not in the slightest.”

Richie gasps. “You wound me, Eds. You really do.”

Eddie shakes his head, reaching to turn up the music a bit. He was fighting back a smile. For whatever reason, Richie thinking of him liking the destination beforehand made something in his chest warm. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Richie cared. He sure as hell had a weird way of showing it, but he definitely cared. Eddie decided a while ago that he liked having Richie care about him. It started maybe before he even acknowledged it as that.

Richie held up a hard exterior. Not in the same way as someone like Stan, his defense wasn’t to be upright and clean all the time. It was the exact opposite. Richie’s guard was to never take anything seriously. Everything was a joke to him. He was the jester, that’s just what he was. That’s all Eddie knew him as for the first few months of their companionship.

That was until the early weeks of summer following their second grade year. They had all planned on meeting down at the Barrens that afternoon, and Eddie was the first to arrive. It was when Richie followed shortly after that he found Eddie sat with his knees pulled to his chest, tears streaming down his cheeks in the same fashion as the blood down his leg. It looked as though he was having trouble breathing, but wasn’t accompanied by his small white aspirator as Richie always saw him. Eddie’s first instinct was to wipe his tears and attempt to steady his breathing. He didn’t want Richie to see him like this. But much to his surprise, rather than a teasing jab or some mocking nickname, he got a gentle hand on his shoulder and a soft, caring tone of voice. Richie was quick to find the bandages Eddie had with him, and actually managed to bring his breathing back to normal. 

Until the others arrived, Richie kept making sure that Eddie was alright. They sat together on the brinks of the rushing water, small hands clasped together as if letting go would undo the repairs. They stayed that way until they saw Stan wandering around the corner, which triggered Richie’s rendition of one of those cowboys out of an old western that they would sometimes watch over Bill’s house.

They didn’t speak of it after that, but Eddie always kept that moment they shared buried deep in his thoughts. It was the first time he’d ever gotten a glimpse into Richie. The real Richie, hidden beneath all of those Voices and crude jokes. Those moments were few and far apart, but Eddie treasured each and every one of them. That was the first time that he realized Richie cared about him, and every time since then has brought back that same feeling. The one that he never wanted to end.

**_____________________________**

“We have arrived!” Richie announces as they pull into the parking lot of what looks to be an open field. 

They really hadn’t been driving for all that long, only a few hours, but Eddie was desperate to get out of the car. It was probably the anticipation of finding out this mystery location that Richie had been withholding from him, but his legs were also numb, which meant if he didn’t get the blood circulating soon he would need them amputated. That would really put a damper mood on the trip. Not to mention his mother would never allow him to leave the house again.

“This is a field, Richie,” Eddie states, looking around as he steps out of the car. “We have these at home. Please don’t tell me you drove us three hours to see a field in a different part of Maine.”

Richie laughs in the way that gives Eddie a reason to think that maybe he did exactly that. “No, no. I didn’t do that. Except, I’ll keep it in mind because that’s an awesome prank.”

Eddie can’t even hold back the small chuckle that escapes him as he follows Richie into what still looks to be just a field. The only thing missing is the Paul Bunyan statue that Richie still walks briskly past and refuses to look directly at, and it would be Bassey Park.

“Then where are we exactly.”

Richie grins. “Just follow the leader. Didn’t you attend kindergarten?”

Those are instructions that Eddie has learned to be wary about following, but he does so anyway.

“Who made you the leader?”

“I did,” Richie answers simply, and in all honesty it should have been expected.

It isn’t a long walk before they reach their apparent destination, which caught Eddie by surprise to say the least. Seeing Richie run up and hold his arms out to a giant lobster statue would catch anyone by surprise.

“It’s the world’s largest statue of a lobster!” Richie shouts, and for whatever reason he is absolutely beaming. Eddie smiles too, because it’s hard not to.

“I have a multitude of questions, but I will withhold momentarily,” Eddie says as he approaches, staring up at the figure above him. He isn’t exactly the poster child for height, and while there probably aren’t too many lobster statues in the world, this one is definitely the biggest. “Wow, Rich. We finally found someone taller than you. Or something, rather.”

“Eds gets off a good one! Look at you!” Richie laughs way more than necessary. Even Eddie knew his joke wasn’t very funny, but he accepted it nonetheless.

“How’d you even know about this thing?” Eddie asks, bringing his gaze back to Richie. He’s still smiling. That makes Eddie smile too.

“Book about weird stuff in Maine. It’s a good one. I’ll lend it to you sometime if you want,” Richie offers.

Eddie nods. He really should’ve known. “Sounds good. Maybe I’ll take you up on that sometime.”

“Picture time!” Richie exclaims, and Eddie groans, but his smile fails to break. 

He does his best to hide his face as Richie runs up to a passing family, practically shoving his camera in their hands before returning to pull Eddie into a bone crushing hug.

“Smile!”

Eddie does, until Richie scoops him up off of his feet and he shrieks. Richie can’t seem to stop laughing.

They spend a while laying in the grass after that, staring up at the colossal crustacean above them as the sun begins to set. For whatever reason, this is a lot less weird than it probably should be. Especially when Eddie realizes that he is still wearing the Maine hat that Richie bought for him. He never quite understood why people would ever want to visit their state, but pretending to be a tourist with Richie was actually rather fun. Maybe it was being alone with Richie that was the real fun part, but specifications were unnecessary at times.

**____________________________**

Richie grants Eddie the honor of choosing where they’ll get dinner.

Due to lack of options in the area, they find themselves in a diner much like one they would see back home in Derry. The scene hasn’t changed from one that would be seen back home either. Eddie looks through the menu as Richie attempts to construct a building of some sort out of sugar packets. It soon becomes apparent that architecture is not his strong suit. Eddie kicks him under the table when he imitates snorting cocaine with some of the spilled sugar.

When the waitress tells Richie she loves his hair, Eddie was entirely expecting him to pull out one of his Voices in response. Specifically the Southern Suitor, which was what he called it. It wasn’t very often at all that Richie got much female attention, at least not nearly as much as he lead on, but when he returned the advance with that, they weren’t likely to return.

Except this time, he didn’t do anything of that sort.

“Really? Oh, thanks. I would trade it for yours any day,” Richie replies with a smile, and there was even the beginnings of a blush high on his cheeks. No Voices, no vulgarity, no crudeness. 

She laughs at that. Eddie doesn’t understand why. It really wasn’t very funny at all, even for Richie. She wouldn’t know how funny Richie can actually be. Besides, her hair was not interesting in the slightest. He would much prefer that Richie kept his dark curls.

Eddie wasn’t one to be childish about things of that sort, so he moved on. There was no reason to be upset in the first place. Richie was his friend. That was it. They were friends. Richie could flirt with whoever the fuck he wanted and nothing would change. They would still be friends.

Although, it was getting a bit harder to ignore when it just wouldn’t stop. The waitress kept coming back. So much that Eddie now possessed the knowledge that her name was Chelsea, and she’s from Portland, and she’s  _ always  _ wanted to visit Derry. He wanted to call bullshit on the whole thing, because statistics could probably tell that ninety-seven percent of Maine’s residents could not point out Derry on a map if asked, and some of that percent are people who reside there.

“You might as well take a seat,” Eddie finally says, and if confronted later he would swear that the condescending tone was both unintentional and beyond his control. “You know, if you’re gonna stand there all night.”

Luckily, with a bit of blatant embarrassment painted over her expression, she quickly replies that she should probably be on her way back to another table before hurrying off.

Richie turns to him with raised eyebrows, a hint of a grin appearing. “Someone’s got a bit of fire tonight. What did they put in those pancakes of yours?”

Eddie shrugs. “I was only offering her a seat. It’s called being polite.”

“Whatever you say, spaghetti head,” Richie hums.

“I’ve told yo-”

“Stop calling you that?” Richie assumes. “I don’t know why you waste your breath anymore, Eds. It’s a losing battle.”

“You know, one day I’ll win. Just you wait,” Eddie replies, and his expression softens only slightly.

Richie chuckles. “I’m waiting, Captain Eddie-Spaghettio-Headio.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Yet you’re still here.”

Eddie doesn’t quite have a response to that. Not one he’s willing to provide, anyway.

**_____________________________**

Richie brings out a variant of one of his Scottish Voices on their walk back to the car. “Why the long face, lassie? Loch Ness Monster got your tongue?” he asks, poking at Eddie’s cheek.

Eddie swats his hand away. “A lass is a young girl.”

“And?”

Eddie just rolls his eyes as he slips into the passenger seat.

The waitress had written her phone number on the receipt. Richie kept it. He shoved it right into his pocket, where Eddie was currently trying to burn a hole into with his eyes. So far, it deemed unsuccessful, but he wasn’t about to give up.

He would say that he didn’t know why it was bothering him so much, but he did. He’d always known. This was just another situation where it wasn’t his place to say anything. So, he didn’t. He turned his body towards the window, and watched the trees and pavement pass by as they started back on the road again. This time, he didn’t bother asking where they were going.

**______________________________**

Eddie was only beginning to drift off to sleep when he was brought back to full consciousness by the sound of Richie changing the music. It normally wouldn’t phase him, but it was still fairly early in the night, so the slightest thing would pull him out of slumber.

“What’s this?” he asks, noticing that it was an entirely new tape that Richie had put in. One that he hadn’t noticed in the car before. 

At this point in their friendship. Eddie had become quite familiar with Richie’s music collection.

“I made it,” Richie answers simply, as if Eddie was meant to have expected this. “For the trip. I thought it would be cool to put together some songs we could listen to together.”

A moment of silence passes before Eddie speaks again. “You made a mix tape?”

Richie shrugs. “Yeah, if that’s what the kids are calling it these days.”

Eddie smiles as he settles back into his seat. The sounds of Heaven by The Rolling Stones flow out of the car’s speakers. He knows it as one of Richie’s favorites, but something tells him that it made the final cut because Richie knows that Eddie has grown to love it too. The thought of that makes Eddie’s smile grow a bit more.

**____________________________**

The two talk idly, but it fades out after not too long. It’s around an hour in that Eddie drifts off to sleep, his knees pulled to his chest in the confines of the small seat. Richie decides that it might be a good time for them to pull off somewhere for the night.

Sleep doesn’t come to him right away. In fact, it’s quite some time before it does. 

As he searches for a suitable sleeping position in the cramped space of the car, Richie’s gaze falls upon Eddie. He couldn’t even pretend that it was entirely incidental. 

There’s something about the way Eddie looks when he sleeps, so peaceful and innocent, so  _ beautiful,  _ that it makes Richie feel like there is something blooming inside his chest. Like he could just watch him at rest like this for hours. He would, if that wasn’t nearing the top of the list of the creepiest things a person could do.

It’s enjoyable at the start. It always is. The warmth consumes his body and blossoms in his center. But it never stays that way. Eventually, it turns suffocating, when the thought of the truth behind this feeling arrives.

Richie begins to feel the loss that would inevitably come if he were to voice this feeling to Eddie. The years of deep and meaningful friendship turned to dust all because he never quite learned to keep his mouth shut.

This was the one time that he truly had to, at least to the best of his ability.

Richie faces away from Eddie as he shuts his eyes, and it’s only then that sleep finally comes to him.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm gonna try to upload on a weekly basis so hope for more very soon!!!


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